COLUMBIA, S.C. (WIS) – In the wake of a data breach affecting most South Carolina school districts, state leaders are releasing some tips and tricks for parents seeking to protect their children’s personal information.

The South Carolina Department of Education (SCDE) said the data breach occurred the night of Jan. 7 when an “international incident” caused those with “unauthorized access” to obtain customer data from PowerSchool’s Student Information Systems, including personally identifiable information.

Only four South Carolina school districts were not affected by the data breach:

• Edgefield County School District
• Greenville County Schools
• Horry County Schools
• Richland County School District Two

Leaders with the South Carolina Department of Consumer Affairs released a few tips to keep in mind for parents to safeguard their children’s information and avoid cyber threats:

Check if your child has a credit report. SCDCA said a child under the age of 18 generally will not have a credit report, so finding one under their name could be a sign of identity theft. SCDCA encourages parents to contact the three major credit reporting agencies (Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax) and ask them to manually search their child’s social security number to ensure there was no file created under their name.

Consider a protected consumer freeze. SCDCA said parents should consider creating a credit file in their child’s name and then freeze it, preventing creditors from accessing the file.

Be on guard. SCDCA cautioned parents to never provide personal information to someone you don’t know. They said the government will never call, email, text or instant message over social media to demand money or personal information.

If you believe someone is using your child’s information, you can contact SCDCA’s Identity Theft Unit at (800) 922-1594 or by submitting an Identity Theft Intake Form by clicking here.

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